A Weekend In Xela

I can't believe that the weekend is already over. It has definitely been a mix of busy and uneventful, but I'm glad that I was able to experience a weekend in Xela.

After my hike, I tried to nap but figured that I wouldn't be able to sleep later if I took a nap too late, so I took some ibuprofen for my headache, drank some water and coffee, and talked with the other volunteers that got back from the day trip. A couple of the volunteers went to the Olmec ruin site a couple hours from here. The Olmecs are said to have predated the Mayans. The pictures that they have are really neat, and it got all of us excited for Tikal this weekend! (We're up to 5 people going to Tikal, and possibly more, if the new volunteers are able to take off work on their first week) The other volunteers went to a water park, Xocomil, for the day and enjoyed the slides.

Five of us went out to dinner after the new volunteers arrived. I don't know the name of the place, but it was a cute restaurant that was on the upper level of a building with windows that overlooked the street and a balcony and candles on each table. I had a delicious sandwhich. I'm not sure of all it contained but it was toasted bread with olive oil and oregono, tomatoes and different kind of cheeses in kind of a hot panini style. It was absolutely delicious...possibly because I was so hungry after the long day's hike. We thought we were going dancing after, but one of the girls wasn't feeling well, and I was eager to go home, so the other three decided to return home as well.

I didn't sleep well again last night, again. I went to sleep fine, but was up at 6 and could not go back to sleep, so it did make for a short night. I hope tonight's a little better. I was able to read and journal though which was really helpful and it was really fun to reflect on some of the things that I've learned so far! The two new girl volunteers were up early as well so I ended up getting to drink coffee and chat with them. They seem to add to the dynamic of the group, and so it is really nice to have more people in the house! The one girl, Chloe, is only staying 2 weeks, and the other two volunteers, Eva and Justin, are staying for a month. Chloe and Justin may try to come to Tikal this weekend.

Hannah and I had talked about going to church before, and so at breakfast we were able to ask Nayo where we could/should go. He called Angelica, the director, and we found a service that started at 9. Nayo dropped us off and we walked the 20 minutes home after the service. I understood absolutely nothing of the service. In part because I couldn't hear the priest, and mostly because I didn't understand the Spanish. I'm still glad we went though. It was an absolutely beautful church that was semi-open. The back doors were stain glass with really large pieces of colored glass in geometric shapes. Te doors were open and the windows at the front were open so there was a nice breeze throughout the church. It was definitely an experience, but I'm glad that Hannah was interested in going as well. I continue to enjoy the time that I spend with her and am really thankful that she is here!

After church we went downtown to the market and walked around a bit. I felt very accomplished because I am finally able to figure out where I am when we drive around town. We took the bus to Central Park, and back home again, which is something new. Normally we take a taxi home because it is easier, but it is a lot more expensive! I'm excited to know that taking the bus is possible! A bus ride is 1.25 Q (about 15 cents) compared to the 40 Q taxi ride (about $5). If you're in a group the taxi isn't horrible, but it definitely adds up a lot quicker than the bus ride.

The buses are so funny to me. They're a bunch of vans with a driver and then a side kick who stands with the door open hanging out as the van drives by yelling the route. They pack in about 17 people into the vans, which are really supposed to be for 13.

This is an example of the vans, although the buses that run through the city don't typically have the roof rack and don't have Turismo on the front.

After the market I enjoyed a relaxing day of movie watching and eating, and am now ready for bed and ready for another week at work. I'm excited because tomorrow I get to work in the kitchen with Paula!

I Conquered Santa Maria!!

I did it, I climbed Santa Maria! Santa Maria is 12,375 ft tall and has the most magnificent views of the smaller volcano Santiaguito which is said to be one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world because of its regular eruptions! (Santiaguito stands at 8235 ft.) Santa Maria is currently dorment but has had a couple of eruptions, one in 1902 that is categorized as among the three largest eruptions of the 20th century and another in 1922. We made it to the top with about 5 minutes to spare before Santiaguito erupted. Santiaguito erupts multiple times a day, almost every hour, but it is often difficult to see because of the high altitude the rapid movement of nearby clouds that cover your view. I did see a little bit of lava, but you could distinctly here the sound of the eruption and see the clouds of smoke multiply above the opening of the volcano. It was pretty amazing! Pictures can't do the hike justice even though it felt like I was looking at a postcard as I sat on top of Santa Maria.

Hannah and I woke up at 4:30 had some granola and finished packing our bags before we met our driver and hiking guide. They say that it is dangerous to go alone because robberies have happened and so that you don't get lost on the many twisted paths along the steep side of the volcano. Because of those recommendations, we had a hiking guide, Adolfus, who hikes up the volcano once or twice a week and is familiar with the terrain. Hannah and I got into the truck a little after 5 and reached the start of the path at about 5:30. We started hiking, but as I mentioned before Hannah's stomach had been hurting the last couple days, so she ended up deciding to turn back after a little ways and go home because her stomach wasn't cooperating. I would have been a little hesitant to go alone with the two men that picked us up and to hike alone with our hiking guide, but after traveling with Hannah to the beginning of the trail and hiking some with our guide, I decided to continue climbing. She ended up having a good day at the water park that a couple of the other volunteers went to today, so it all worked out!

The morning view as we started our hike!

At a resting point, facing the top of Santa Maria...that's where we had to go!

Adolfus and I kept on hiking and reached the top of the volcanoe in exactly 3 hours. It was a long hike, but it wasn't too terrible. The only tricky part was watching out for random rocks and the slippery mud as a result of yesterday's rain. I twisted my knee at one point when my foot slipped and was nervous it was going to bother me for the rest of the hike up, but after stretching it out and walking a little longer, I didn't feel anything. I'm so thankful that I have been exercising here and that the altitude was not a factor in my hike. It was a really pleasant hike and I enjoyed the time I was able to spend practicing my Spanish. Adolfus is learning English and so he was able to ask questions, and between the little Spanish I know, and the little English that he knows we were able to talk for most of the 7 hour hike!

Stopping for a picture with the view on our way up Santa Maria. At this point we were higher than most of the clouds!

At the top, we watched Santiaguito erupt and then a weird cloud/fog haze set in around us so you really couldn't see much of anything at all. Adolfus explained that Mayans still come to the top to do different prayers and other religious ceremonies, and we did see some indigenous Mayans, who came from Chichi, climbing up the hill with bushels of flowers on their back. I'm not quite sure what they were going to do with the flowers but they were hiking Santa Maria for the first time they all said. It was a funny encounter with them because I could tell that the two younger girls were talking about me, but I had no idea what they were saying. They both were pointing to their cheeks and rubbing them and I don't know if I had something on my face or what they were fascinated by. They had genuine and beautful smiles to offer though. After we sat at the top for an hour and little more, we started our way back down. This was the part that scared me the most. I don't have a problem going up things, but coming down scares me, especially when the ground is muddy and there are random rocks and roots sticking out of the ground. We went slow and stopped to talk in lots of places. I was able to show him pictures on my camera of my family and trips I had taken and other important people in my life, which he appreciated. I only semi-wiped out once, meaning I slipped but caught myself with my hands and stood right up and kept on walking! I was pleased. With the slow pace and many stops we made it down in a little under 3 hours, so in total, the trip took 7 hours.

The view of Santiaguito from the top of Santa Maria. The smoke coming out of the crater is part of the aftermath of the first eruption. (We were there for 2!)

Me with Adolfus. You can see the cloud/fog haze surrounding us at the top of Santa Maria.

We hiked down to the beginning of the trail where our driver let us off, but he didn't show up for another 30 minutes, so we sat and talked and watched the local children make up their own games to play in the street, the cows being hearded along, and the little chuchos (street dogs without a home) follow random strangers down the street. I made it home in time for the end of lunch with the workers at the house, as everyone else had gone to either an ancient ruins site, or the water park. It was a relaxing lunch and I enjoyed my time talking more with Angelica, the director, about her life and how she ended up here in Xela. She has had a difficult life and I thoroughly appreciated her comments on how the group that I came down with had a natural connection that is fun to have around the house. She told some stories of other volunteer groups that weren't so much fun for her to have, and even commented on the group of people that just left, saying how nice it is for everyone in the house that there are divisions and cliques of people with the group that came in 2 weeks ago. She is a lovely lady who loves the Mayan culture and gave me more reasons why I am so thankful I'm in Xela.

The day's not over, but it has been a wonderful day! Tonight I'm going out to eat at an Indian Restaurant and the volunteers at the house are going dancing. It should be interesting! The new group of volunteers come in around 7:00 pm tonight! More things to look forward too! :)

Creation is so amazing, and I am still in awe at the beauty that I witnessed today. I'm so excited and proud to say that I hiked the fourth tallest point in Central America.

All Geared Up For Tomorrow

Hannah and I went to Hiper Pais today which is the equivalent of Wal-Mart. They had the GV brand that is in Wal-Mart so I'm pretty sure that it's one and the same. We loaded up on water, granola bars, gummy bears, and Gatorade. We're leaving at 5 in the morning to get to the bottom of the volcano and should be home around 1pm! She isn't feeling well at the moment, so I'm hoping that a good night's sleep will do wonders and she'l be ready to go tomorrow. I'm excited though.

Work was good today. I had a really fun time playing with socks and pretending they were puppets. The kids really enjoyed that. I have a short video of me talking to Jenny and her laughing. :) It was so cute though because she would take the socks off my hands and imitate my sock conversations, saying, hola, hola, hola, and then she'd give them back to me. One of the most rewarding things in the placement is listening to the kids laugh. You can't help but smile! It does make me a little sad to think that at then end of the next two weeks there won't be anybody in the nursery with the kids to play with them and hold them!

Jenny and my sock puppet and silly sock puppet voice. I watched this about 5 times already and got a big smile each time! My goal each day is to get her to laugh!

Jenny giving the puppet a hug!

Oliver and Marita vying for the same 'lota' as Jenny likes to call it.

I had to laugh today because I got wet on 3 different times and had to change 3 poopy diapers. I think that's the record for the trip. Oliver had such a messy diaper we had to give him a bath. The workers weren't very happy because that meant more laundry for them. I find it amazing though that the kids don't complain about having a dirty diaper, they are simply used to it.

Nelzo wasn't there again today, and I haven't seen Helen in a couple of days. Manuel wasn't in the nursery today, he was back with the other kids and ready for school, so he must be all better!

I didn't sleep well last night, so I was ready for a nap after lunch today. It felt amazing! Emily and I ventured down town to go to the post office and walk around. We ended up going to a coffee shop for a bit and I got chocolate con leche and shared a couple of bites of Emily's crepes with nutella. The chocolate con leche is the most amazing cup of hot chocolate I have ever had. It's definitely not made from a pouch of powder!

It was a pretty uneventful day. I'm thankful that the internet is back up again, and I'm ready for dinner and bed!

It's been officially two weeks since I left for Guatemala! Time has flown, and I am excited that I have another two weeks to go.

Mayan Weaving

The internet was down all day...so here's Thursday's update!

Another day is done here. I can’t believe that this week is almost over and I’m almost half way done with my program! The time has gone really fast, this week in particular. The plans are all lined up this weekend for hiking Santa Maria. It’s just Hannah and I and the guide that will pick us up and take us to the start of the trail and make sure that we’re on the right path and we don’t get lost. I think that most everyone is sticking around here this weekend, which will be fun. We’re getting a new group of volunteers in the house, which will be a big change from our group that has been together for 2 weeks.

I met some other English speakers in the orphanage today. One of the girls has been there for 9 weeks and has 3 more to go. She didn’t seem overly excited to be there, but it could have been just my perception. She’s in the special ed classroom. There are also two other guys that started this week. They’re also in the special ed classes, but I’m sure that all of the boys in the orphanage enjoying having guys around considering all of the workers are women. It was fun watching all of the kids play duck duck goose today in the playground.

I worked in the nursery for the first two hours. Nelzo wasn’t there again today, but as I was leaving he was walking into the orphanage. I don’t know if he goes to a preschool type of thing, because there were about 6 other kids with him, or if they were simply gone for the last couple of days. Manuel, the little boy who was sick, was still in the nursery today. He definitely changes the dynamics. He was continually climbing precariously on the cribs to reach the TV in order to change the channel to something not age appropriate and so I would change it back when he climbed down. We were finally able to agree on Shrek after I had been pinched and hit. It’s amazing how mad he was but when I gave him a hug he softened. It’s funny how short but loud their tantrums are. It’s a fine line between letting him act out and asserting myself as in control. They really have nothing to look forward to. Each day is the same for the kids. They have breakfast they sit in their cribs until snack time that’s normally brought to them, and then they wait until lunch. We had a debriefing today about how our placements are going, and Angelica, the director, said that most likely the kids will forget my name but they’ll remember that someone was excited to see them and held and played with them, and that will make a difference in their life! That was really encouraging to hear!

In the kitchen today, things seemed a little tense. I think that some inspectors were coming into the home to see how things are run and to make sure that the kids were being fed properly and that they are being appropriately taken care of. One of the workers ran into the kitchen to tell Paula that an inspector was coming and soon everyone was putting things away, wiping the counters, putting the table clothes on the table, and putting thing in the locked pantry. They did an awesome job because the kitchen cleaned up really fast. The thing is, the kitchen wasn’t dirty, it was just in use. I don’t know how the inspection went because I couldn’t hear what they were asking, but it was definitely an interesting experience.

After work and lunch we had a weaving demonstration come to the house. It was a Quiche couple (part of the indigenous tribe) who ran their own business. Dona Cat works on the weavings and then her husband sells them in markets similar to the one that I visited in Chichi. The amount of work that goes into something so small is amazing! The shirt that she was wearing typically takes about 3 months, and a table runner takes about 20-30 days depending on how much time she has to work on it and how fast she is moving. She has been weaving for about 40 years and it definitely shows in the way that she was able to just feel the threads and know how many she had. It’s really difficult to explain, but I was engrossed in watching her and just how much time and effort goes into something so small. A couple of us got to try. I was the first to go. It was so difficult and she definitely walked me through each step. I was just doing the basic weaving without the decorative aspects and that was complicated enough for me. It was really neat though!

Dona Cat showing us how the designs are made, row by row.

Me attempting to weave. I needed a lot of help!

One of Dona Cat's finished products. She was demonstrating how to weave one of the smaller designs for us.

Hannah and I went to a cycling class in preparation for our big hike on Saturday morning. It makes it a little more interesting when you can’t understand what they are telling you to do. Haha. We had tamales tonight for dinner and they were excellent! The food is absolutely amazing, and I am continuously amazed at the variety, freshness, and deliciousness of what is served! I think we’re venturing out for dinner tomorrow night though. Yay for another week!

Playing Professional Futbol Players?

Today was another great day at work. When Paula isn’t there I get to spend the whole day with the kids. One of the workers had me take a picture on my camera of Oliver and wanted me to send them to her, so I have to try and figure out if I can develop some of my pictures for her. She is so funny because she talks so incredibly fast and thinks that I understand everything perfectly. I normally can get the gist of what she is saying by her movements, but I definitely don’t understand a lot of what she says. I was able to talk with her a little more today and learned that her grandparents were from Spain and that she has a lot of family in Mexico. She’s been working in the orphanage for 14 years and has seen a lot of kids come through. The home is for kids 0-18 years of age. Marita is only 8 months old, and Oliver is 6 months old.

Yesterday I was feeling like I didn’t have enough hands to go around and that I couldn’t hold everyone at once. Today was a really wonderful day in that regard. Nelzo wasn’t there today, he was learning something, or was at school somewhere, although I couldn’t quite figure out what Rosa was telling me. Only having 4 kids made a huge difference considering they’re all around the same age! Another boy named Manuel came in to the nursery today. I think that he sleeps there at night but during the day he is in another room in the hogar. He came in today because he was sick and just sat on the floor, wouldn’t say anything or really look at anybody. I went over and started rubbing his back and asked if he liked it. He said yes, and he got a lot less tense the more that I rubbed his back. Eventually they turned the TV on in the nursery and he fell asleep lying on the floor and later got moved to his bed. After playing with Maria for a little while, it was time for her bottle, which she drank in her bed and then she fell asleep. Jenny finished her bottle, so while Luis and Oliver were drinking their bottles, I got to hold her and rock her and eventually she fell asleep on my lap as well and so I put her in the crib. Then I got to rub Luis’s back while he finished his bottle and he fell asleep as well. That left me with Oliver! I had been sad because Oliver is always in his crib and the times that I’ve taken him out he’s managed to hit his head on something and the workers put him back in the crib. He didn’t end up falling asleep but I got to hold him and play with him for over an hour until it was time for lunch. He’s got such an incredibly cute laugh!

Here's Maria Sleeping...Too Cute!

I have a video of the nursery where I spend most of my day. I was trying to think about the beds and the kids and I think there are 15 or 16 beds/cribs to sleep in.

After work and lunch we had a speaker come in to tell us about the health care system and the education system in Guatemala. Some facts that really stood out to me:

About Health Care:
-There is 1 physician for every 1,000 people in Guatemala
-The number one cause of death is Pneumonia and behind that is upper respiratory infection (a lot of the other sicknesses are preventable)
-There are 23 languages in Guatemala and often times there is a language barrier/discrimination against the indigenous people leading to even poorer experiences and health care.

About Education:
-The new president announced free education for all children but there is not enough money to allow for this.
-There are hidden fees that families can’t pay and often times they need the children to stay home and work or take care of siblings
-There are often times close to 70 students in one class with one teacher and there are no special ed programs.

There is so much need here! I don’t feel like my investment and work in this country is done when my month is up, but we’ll see where life takes me!

We just got back from playing soccer with some of the professional soccer players of Xela. One of the staff, Gabby, is engaged to an old Super Chivo, and so he and a couple of other guys came and we played a pick up game. We played the volunteers versus the Super Chivos, except I got to play on the professional team for a little while. I don’t think I contributed too much, but I didn’t mess anything up. It was a lot of fun even though.

It’s dinner time again…

Here's me trying to guard the professional player. The one with the ball is the staff member's fiance.

Fuentes Georginas

I went to work as usual again on this Tuesday. This week is already starting to fly by. Paula was back at work today and I figured out that she rotates which days she works. This week she is working Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Then the next week is Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. She was glad to see me and I enjoy get the traditional hug and kiss when you greet someone and when you leave. She is the only worker that does it, but it definitely makes me feel welcome in the home. She was extremely appreciative of my dish washing and told me so many times today. I also peeled, cut, and shred carrots and chopped what smelled like parsley. I was able to ask Paula how many kids are in the home, and there are 80 total. I didn't ask how many workers, but from what I can tell there may be 15 or 20 but they come in shifts on different days. I definitely don't have enough arms to go around though. It is difficult to balance holding and playing with each one of the kids because they all crave the attention. Jenny was back today and wanted to be held a lot and got really mad when I was playing with one of the other kids. I still haven't gotten the name of this one little boy who gives me a hug every time that I come to work, but today he asked if I had a boyfriend. I think he wanted to be my boyfriend. He gave me a really long hug while I washed some dishes today. Belkis seemed a little better today. I asked her if she was sick yesterday and she said no. I asked her if she was sad yesterday and she said yes. I hugged her for awhile today as well. It's funny how her and Helen make their way into the kitchen when I'm working to get a hug and a handshake and a smile. :) I was talking with one of the other volunteers today and we agreed that smiles go a LONG way! Paula is constantly laughing and smiling in the kitchen, and it really is a joy to work with her, and I know she appreciates the extra hands.

After work we had lunch and our trip out for the day was to the Hot Springs, or Fuentes Georginas. They were deinitely different than the ones in LA. It was a lot more commercial and touristy with the bottoms of the three different pools made with sqaure rocks and a cabana shelter built next to the top two springs. At one time there was a restaurant next to them as well and so workers were rebuilding the walls of the destroyed restaurant. The temperature was much hotter than the LA hot springs and the water was a lot clearer. I'd have to say that I enjoyed the LA hot springs a little better because of the more natural appeal and the awesome river running next to the springs where you could cool off. Although there were people at the hot springs in LA, it seemed more crowded here in Guatemala. One of the neat things about the hot springs in Guatemala is the surrounding landscape which jungle like. The green surrounding the srpings is amazing, and the drive was beautiful!

I think that tonight is movie night around here. It rained really really hard today with a lot of thunder and lightening extremely close to our house. Our internet was down for a little, but it's back up again! It's a perfect night for a movie though after our relaxing time at the hot springs, and a chilly and rainy day here in Xela.

Guillaume is doing better today, still not great, but better. His platellette count was down really low and they were worried, but he was on some antibiotics and slept a lot and seems to be gaining strength. The doctors thought it was something that he ate that was a really strong bacteria which caused an infection which led to his fever as well. I'm so thankful that I did not get any of those symptoms, and that I am still healthy! We're still trying to figure out what he ate that was different from the rest of us. I have some more picture that other people took of our trip to Atitlan and some from the hot springs!

This is the whole group with Nayo (our driver), Don Renee (our gaurd), and Andres (the director's nephew). This was at the Xela soccer game that we went to last week, but four of the people in the picture left his past weekend.

This is the view from the porch at our hostel, La Iguana Perdida. It was an amazing view!

Me in los fuentes georginas! The water got increasingly hotter the closer you got to the rocks.

Hannah and I in the hot springs. I have really enjoyed my time getting to know Hannah. She's in Xela a total of 8 weeks. She's hiking Santa Maria with me this weekend! :)

An Uneventful Monday

Compared the weekend, today was pretty low key. It was back to work as usual. We were up at 6:45am and out the door at 7:30am. I didn't feel so great today. I think it was a combination of traveling and being tired and still trying to regain sleep that I lost from my 24 hour travel to Guatemala a week ago. So, work today was a little difficult to get through. My body ached a little and I was just really tired and I didn't feel like I was needed at all because three different workers were in and out. Although they were in the room they didn't really interact with the kids. I asked if they needed help in the kitchen today, and they said no. Paula wasn't there either, so it was just kind of an off day. I spent the 4 hours in the nursery with the kids, but a lot of the older ones were in there today, and it is hard because they tend to gang up on the little ones. There were 8 kids in the nursery today. It was frustrating because I would take the babies out of the crib and let them crawl on the floor but soon after get told that they needed to go back in the crib so they didn't hurt themselves. Oliver spends most of his time in the crib, and Luis, with his broken foot, is confined to the crib as well. He is starting to walk on the cast and play around in the crib but often gets yelled at to sit back down. It is a pendulum between tears of the kids and laughs. Belkis wasn't herself today, I couldn't figure out if she was sick or not or just sad. She came into the nursery and I asked her if she could sit for awhile, so I just held her, but then she got told she couldn't be in the nursery. Helen remembered the handshake and was proud to show it off and tried to teach some of the others. Jenny wasn't there all day and there was a sign on the door talking about her, but I wasn't able to put all the pieces together. I'm wondering if she is no longer in the home or if she was just gone for the day. We'll see tomorrow.

Guillaume, one of the people that I traveled with, is really sick. They had the doctors come to the house this morning and they ended up quarantining him. He went to the hospital later in the afternoon but we haven't gotten much information on what they think it is or how he's doing. We're all wondering if we're going to get sick/what made him sick, because the four of us ate the same things and we were in all of the same places. I'm really hoping that I manage to skip this round. Each day working with the kids I wonder how I haven't gotten sick already. They all have really deep coughs and runny noses. I'm trying my best and so far so good! The hand sanitizer has been really helpful. Because Guillaume is sick and four people left this last weekend, the house is really quiet.

After lunch I took a power nap and then had spanish lessons. I think that I'm going to my private lessons either on Wednesday or Friday. The hour went really fast and the girl that I had today was extremely fun to talk with. She had good questions that got me talking and practicing my Spanish, so it was really excellent.

We dropped off a load of laundry today (Hannah and I) and picked it up after going to the gym. It cots 25 Q for the entire bag and so divided between 2 people it cost about $1.50 for my clothes to be washed and folded.

The gym was difficult today because Lake Atitlan had a much lower elevation, so it was hard to readjust to the high altitude, but I'm glad I went. Hannah and I are hiking Santa Maria, one of the volcanoes in Xela, on either Saturday or Sunday morning depending on the amount of rain we get, and so it was good to do some cardio and get adjusted again.

Here's a map of where we were this past weekend, and a picture of Santa Maria...this coming weekend's challenge!

We started in Panajachel, too the boat to Santa Cruz, kayaked to San Marcos and back to Santa Cruz and then took a boat back to Pana.

The volcano to the right is Santa Maria and the one to the left is Santiaguito. If you're up there early enough in the morning you can see Santiaguito erupt, because it erupts most every day.